Lionel Messi Retires From International Soccer

Why Is This Important?

Because Lionel Messi is one of soccer’s best – and best known - players, and his decision to abandon international tournaments like the Copa America will herald a big changing of the guard in Argentina.

Long Story Short

Lionel Messi announced he is retiring from international play following another heart-crushing defeat to Chile at the Copa America finals. Argentina lost 4-2 in a penalty shootout, in which Messi missed his shot.

Long Story

There’s no denying Lionel Messi is among the best soccer players alive today, if not the best: the 29-year-old Argentinian forward won the Ballon d’Or best player award for the fifth time earlier this year, and despite being one of the highest-profile and highest-paid superstar athletes in the world, he is consistently praised for his humility and absence of diva-like behavior.
But he just can’t seem to win on the international level. And following the loss to Chile on Sunday—Messi’s fourth loss in an international final—he says he’s done playing for his country.

“It's tough, it’s not the time for analysis,” he told reporters after the loss. “In the dressing room I thought that this is the end for me with the national team, it’s not for me.

“That’s the way I feel right now, it’s a huge sadness once again and I missed the penalty that was so important. I tried so hard to be champion with Argentina. But it didn’t happen. I couldn’t do it.”

The comments came shortly after he missed the opening penalty shot following 120 minutes of team play. He was later seen in tears in the team’s dugout.

Sunday’s loss marks the fourth time a finals victory has eluded a Messi-led Argentina squad. It lost the Copa America to Brazil in 2007 and to Chile in 2015 and 2016. In 2014, they lost the World Cup to Germany. Argentina failed to score in any of those matches. Their only recent international success has been winning gold at the 2008 Olympics.

Messi has played for this country 113 times over 11 years and scored 55 goals, making him Argentina’s leading international scorer. He scored five times in this year’s Copa America alone, setting the record with this crazy free kick against the USA last week.

There aren’t many superlatives that are wasted on Messi. His list of awards, achievements and records is jaw-dropping, and his genius is recognized by everyone in the game. After Sunday’s final, Chile’s Argentine coach Juan Antonio Pizzi said, “I think he is the best player in history and I think the numbers are irrefutable.”

According to some reports, Messi isn’t the only Argentina player contemplating retirement from international tournaments. Hold onto that Messi jersey, kid.

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question

Is Messi’s decision reversible?

Disrupt Your Feed

Fairly or not, Messi will always be compared to Diego Maradona even though he is consistently better than the man closest associated with Argentina’s 1986 World Cup victory.

Drop This Fact

Messi has made so much money he appears to have lost track of some of it. He’s been linked to the Panama Papers, but says the accusations of money-laundering are “false and slanderous.” He’s preparing legal action.